-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Long before fish swam in Macquariums , hipsters got Apple logo tattoos and thousands camped out for days to get into computer store openings , there was a machine .

Danielle Brecker found this 1989 photo of friends on their Macs at Drexel University in Philadelphia .

Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the original Macintosh , the first personal computer to draw masses , introduce the mouse and incorporate a graphical user interface , relying on images instead of text .

The Apple Inc. watershed product entered American consciousness amid fanfare , with a $ 1.5 million commercial , made by Ridley Scott , wowing audiences during Super Bowl XVIII . The piece 's title , `` 1984 , '' invoked author George Orwell 's message and stood as a warning against conformity .

Two days after the ad ran , the Macintosh became available and life , as people knew it , changed . No longer were computers viewed as toys with which to play primitive games or as untouchable tools reserved for degreed engineers . We began to think different .

`` The Macintosh demonstrated that it was possible and profitable to create a machine to be used by millions and millions of people , '' said Alex Soojung-Kim Pang , research director for the Institute for the Future , a Palo Alto , California , think tank , and chief force behind `` Making the Macintosh : Technology and Culture in Silicon Valley , '' an online historical exhibit . `` The gold standard now for personal electronics is , ` Is it easy enough for my grandmother to use it ? ' People on the Macintosh project were the first people to talk about a product in that way . ''

Pang , 44 , remembered being `` mesmerized '' by the computer when he first saw it up close in his college bookstore . He was n't alone . Read about how iReporters are preserving Mac history

For graphic designers like Zoë Korstvedt , now a Los Angeles creative director , the evolving Mac , with each added feature , was ripe with ah-ha moments .

To tinker with a piece , play with the text , `` to visualize on your computer was just insane , '' she said . `` My colleagues and I wonder how we did it -LSB- their jobs -RSB- before . ''

No wonder , then , that when Korstvedt , 44 , married her first husband in 1989 , she used half of their wedding money to buy her first home computer : a Mac SE/30 , for which she forked over extra bucks for an upgrade to a whopping 8 megabytes of RAM . Nothing compared to the 12 gigs she now has . `` I was styling , '' she said with a laugh .

Jeremy Mehrle , 30 , of the St. Louis , Missouri , area is too young to know a world without Macs . This MacAddict began hoarding and tinkering with tossed-out computers , and then he discovered eBay . Today , the motion graphics designer 's 1,400 square-foot basement is a museum to Apple computers , all-white and in gallery-style with about 80 fully-functioning machines on display .

`` Some people think it 's really cool . ... Others say ` It 's Jeremy 's thing , it 's a little weird , whatever , ' '' he said . `` I think if I had stacks everywhere , and you could n't move in my house , people would be worried . ''

What 's Mehrle 's hobby , however , became a career for Dan Foust , 38 , of Bloomington , Illinois . `` Danapplemacman , '' as he 's known on eBay , makes a living out of buying , and when necessary resuscitating , these computers before hawking them online to customers/collectors in places as far-flung as Italy and Australia .

So what would people pay for an original Macintosh ?

`` A complete boxed system ? , '' he said . `` I ca n't put a price on that . ''

The extremes to which people have gone in their love and loyalty for Apple -LRB- and specifically Macs -RRB- knows no bounds . Perhaps no one knows this better than Leander Kahney , news editor at Wired.com and author of Cult of Mac , as well as the more recently published Inside Steve 's Brain . That would be Apple co-founder Steve Jobs ' brain , of course .

From his phone in a San Francisco coffee shop , Kahney told tales of people allotting their limited vacation time to Macworld conferences , a man who has traveled to 40 Apple store openings and those who shaved Apple logos into their heads . As for the Apple tattoos , those , at first , really bothered him .

`` I 'm a bit of a leftie , '' he said . The idea of `` corporate worship '' did n't initially sit well with him -- although he 's not afraid to admit his own obsession . `` It 's a very deep relationship people have with their computers . ... If the computer 's not working , it 's more important than the car breaking down . ''

Speaking of worship , Israeli filmmakers Ron and Kobi Shely created `` MacHEADS : The Movie , '' a 50-minute documentary that 'll be available next week on Amazon 's video on demand service and , soon after , on iTunes . The film includes footage from The Church of Mac in Los Angeles , where a preacher and congregants gathered to glorify the computer at a service that ended with , `` Praise Steve . ''

`` Although we read a lot about the -LSB- Mac -RSB- phenomenon , '' Ron Shely said by phone from Tel Aviv of the two-year film project , `` we did n't realize how big this social movement really is . ''

And that , beyond the products , is what has been so powerful about the Mac brand , said Peter Friess , president of The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose , California . iReport.com : Got your own Mac Museum ? Show us !

Steve Jobs `` really has changed the world , '' Friess said . `` You hardly find people who changed cultures . He changed culture . ''

Decades before Jobs ' health became a topic of discussion , Friess was lucky enough to meet the man . At the time , German-born Friess was a lowly watchmaker , repairing clocks in the basement of Munich 's Deutsches Museum , the largest science and technology museum in the world .

The year was 1984 , and Friess thought a Macintosh might come in handy , so he called Apple Germany to see if he might be able to get one . The answer , as he recalled it , '' ` You 're very lucky . Steve Jobs is in town . We 'll come over and give you one . ' ''

Ever since , he 's been amazed and exceedingly intrigued by every new computer . `` My wife goes crazy , '' Friess , 49 , admitted . `` Every Apple computer I buy , the first thing I do is take it apart , just to see what 's inside . ''

For Gary Allen , 61 , of Berkeley , California , his interest is less inside than it is outside the company 's stores . He runs ifoAppleStore.com , the first three letters taken from his police dispatch days , meaning `` in front of . ''

The site 's genesis dates back to 2001 when Apple store No. 9 opened , in Palo Alto , and he and his son went early . Way early -- as in the night before . The crowds , and natural community , grew on Allen , who began seeing new-found friends at other openings . They were like groupies chasing a band .

So he started a Web site , to help fans keep in touch , and soon other Apple enthusiasts began writing from across the globe , sharing tips about new stores , as well as testimonies and photos . The site , he said , averages about 4 million visitors a month .

Allen , who guessed he 's been to 22 store openings so far , once stood in the rain for days in Tokyo so he could snag the first spot in line . He 's seen old friends at openings in Germany and Italy . Last summer , he and his now 21-year-old son experienced what he called `` the perfect storm , '' hitting Boston , Beijing and Sydney . Next stop : Paris .

He may not speak the same language as the thousands who surround him in these various cities , but that does n't much matter when people speak the same language of computer love .

`` Apple enthusiasts , it turns out , '' Allen said , `` are the same wherever you go . ''

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Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the first Macintosh computer

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Apple launched the Mac in 1984 with Ridley Scott 's landmark Super Bowl XVIII ad

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Steve Jobs is credited for cult-like worship seen in tattoos , collections , Macquariums

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Fans flock to Macworld expos , Apple store openings and hoard eBay purchases